AIG to Hold Annual Meeting as Former Company CEO Greenberg Urges Delay
Former AIG Chief Executive Maurice "Hank" Greenberg urged the insurer to delay its annual general meeting scheduled to take place tomorrow, citing in a letter to the board that the company is in "crisis". The board, however, sees no need to postpone the meeting, according to a company spokesperson.
"Several top shareholders of AIG have called me expressing deep concern about the persistent and seemingly endless destruction of value at AIG," Greenberg said in the May 11 letter to the board, a copy of which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
"AIG is in crisis," Greenberg said, in the letter calling on AIG's board to postpone its annual general meeting.
The letter followed AIG's reporting last Thursday a $7.8 billion first-quarter loss, its largest-ever, as a result of a large write-down to the value of securities linked to subprime mortgages. Overall results also disappointed, with lackluster operating results reported by a number of units.
The company late on Monday raised $11.9 billion, according to an underwriter -- more than the $7.5 billion that the offerings of common stock and mandatory convertibles were expected to raise. AIG plans to raise $5 billion more at a later date with the issue of fixed-income securities.
Greenberg is chairman of C.V. Starr and Starr International, entities that were once affiliated with AIG and continue to be the insurer's largest shareholders. Along with a personal stake, Greenberg controls roughly 12 percent of AIG stock,
Published on May 13, 2008
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